McChesney

Group 1  --  Matthew Offet
 v   Rise of Professional Journalism

 Ø The Freedom of the Press Clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution exists because journalism during the colonial era was used to spread dissident political viewpoints. The clause protected this right, as politicians of the day knew that if the government could control the media they could effectively “kill democracy” (McChesney, 300). This early press was very partisan, and many publications were tied to political parties.

 Ø   During the 1800’s, the newspaper business increasingly became driven by profits. Publications were still very partisan, but the sales of advertising space, increased population, and lowering of cost caused the profits to increase greatly. Each paper tended to represent the political viewpoints of the owner, and it was a much more competitive market than it is today – as there were a high number of daily papers.

 §   At the beginning of the 20th century the socialist party began to view the mainstream press as the voice of the opposition, so they began their own publications to get their message out. They reached a readership of 2 million with their 325 newspapers and magazines.

 Ø   The economic climate in the Gilded Age through the Progressive Age led to many changes in the newspaper landscape. The economics of advertising-supported publications dictated that most markets only had 1 to 2 daily publications (compared to around 10 in the 19th century), and this economic barrier made it very difficult for independent and dissident papers to survive, causing them to lose much of their circulation.

 Ø   This loss of competition in the market led to a crisis. Before, when there were a large number of daily papers with conflicting viewpoints the need for objectivity wasn’t needed because there was always the counter viewpoint available for consumption. Now that there were a small amount of publications available there was a crisis because if the remaining papers remained partisan and only showed what the owner believed and what would appease the advertisers the credibility of their industry would be lost.

 Ø   During the Progressive Era, the mainstream media was seen as harmful to democracy and only serving the wealthy. As McChesney puts it, “it was widely thought that journalism was explicit class propaganda in a war with only one side armed” (301).

 §   Upton Sinclair published The Brass Check in 1919, it detailed a multitude of lies put forth by the capitalist press. He even challenged the opposition to prove any of his claims as false and none could.



<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in"> Ø <span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;mso-bidi-font-family:Wingdings">  Media tycoons of the early 20th century decided to relinquish their political control and implemented a system where professional journalists and editors would report the news in an unbiased fashion without receiving bias from owners or advertisers in order to increase profits. Journalism schools opened to train journalists and editors to the new way of business. With this new system there was no need for more than 2 publications per market, and the reader could trust what they were reading was true.

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in"> Ø <span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;mso-bidi-font-family:Wingdings">  The one major flaw with professional journalism is that there will always be bias. Why is one story front page news and the other is on the back page? This decision making process is a part of journalism, and when deciding where to place stories value is being given to each of them.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in"> § <span style="font-size:7.0pt; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family:Wingdings">  Three Biases of the Professional Code

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in"> · <span style="font-size:7.0pt; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol">         Stories given by official sources and political figures tend to carry more weight because they were seen as legitimate and when professional journalism was developed this was very important. It also gave the editor the out of saying they weren’t responsible if they only reported what was being said. Also, such stories were inexpensive and easy to cover.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in"> · <span style="font-size:7.0pt; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol">         Journalists also tended to avoid contextualization. This failure to put things in context would often skew the news. Often things are only reported when the person who wants to make their viewpoint popular holds a press event, and the other side is often disregarded. This lack of contextualization helped build the public relations industry, in which PR professionals shape the news with their releases and knowledge of how the press works.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in"> · <span style="font-size:7.0pt; font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol">         Papers show bias by failing to report actions of large corporations often, and instead focusing on things such as celebrity gossip and crime stories. These stories don’t antagonize those in power. Stories on programs affecting the poor are also focused on as opposed to those stories that would impact the wealthy. Studies have also shown that the media is much more interested in covering wrongdoings of the government as opposed to that of large corporations.

Ashley Friddle
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1"> §    Pro-Corporate bias

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1"> There is no easy way to find if there is a bias in the news today. Charles Lewis left television and created a team to find more investigation in journalism.The problem with this was that there was no further coverage involved.The government cannot control what to issue, but in the journalism private sector world it is controlled.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1"> Ø   Golden Age of Professional Journalism - 1950's-1970's factual information wanted.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1">       There was a time of journalism when the labor workforce was more powerful and journalism was congregated into labor editors With the decrease of labor there are less than ten labor editors today. Professional journalism hits a high known as the Golden Age from the 1950's to the 1970's. Journalists are able to write risky subjects more easily. This was a time when the need was for factual based information.The best journalism was found through debate like it still is today. A video of Tina Brown saying that journalism will mature through the internet and we will find a new sort of Golden Age. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrUT7HrH_io

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1">       There was still press and crticism in this time of journalism. Also making the corporations happy was problematic.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1"> Th      Commercialization of Journalism  

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1">      The product is largely shown through journalism. The "deal" of a contract was never written up in the beginning between journalists and media owners. Media conglomerates paid for time on the news.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1"> Commercial News Media 

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1"> Professionalism was no longer in force as commercialization took over. Twenty-four hour news and the rise of the internet increased the need for more attention getting stories. As journalism reflects market concerns polotical coverage wavers.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1"> Attack on Professional Budget Cutting 

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1"> Cuts on resources, and in the 90's the news media are made to adjust to financial constraints. Low estimates on budgets.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1"> Ø                   §     Fox News Success 

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1">        The great commercial success story has been the Fox News Channel. They implemented a way to cut costs to minimum by replacing more expensive conventional journalism with celebrity ponifications. They were able to compete with CNN in profits. Another way to cut costs is through the media conglomorites. They help with budget, and also a pattern is forming that one journalist is used with their radio stations, television channels, newspapers, and now the internet.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1">         R elaxing Professional Standards

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1">The deflated budget of journalism has led many to a relaxed or altered view. Not all stories are a fact finding needing story.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1">     Investigative Journalism

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1">"Fourth Estate". Dwindling in today's society. It costs more all around to provide the journalist and investigation in a story. In 2002 only 1 percent of news was loosely catergorized into investigative journalism.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1">"A good portion of what appears as investigative work on network TV news is actually the reporting of leaks or government reports where reporters are spoonfed by sources."(Charles Lewis) pg.11

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1"> Indeed, in the current environment, it is  decreasingly the case that the reporter will  bother to investigate to ﬁnd out who is  telling  the truth if there is a factual dispute among  ofﬁcial sources. The professional reliance upon  ofﬁcial sources as the basis for news—always a  problem—has been reduced to the absurd. To  investigate factual disputes among ofﬁcial  sources would take time and cast the pall of  bias over the journalist, depending upon whom  the ﬁndings favored. (Rampton and Stauber, 2001) pg.11

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1"> §   Commercialism

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1">As a result, the audience has become accustomed to shoddy reporting to the point that the average viewer does not necessarily expect quality journalism and probably could not discern the difference between a well produced story and a below-average one. The sad truth is that because the mass audience cannot perceive the difference, management is reluctant to spend more money to improve the product. (Westin, 2000, p. 5) pg.12

Accepting bribes has made journalists a "pitchman" for products. <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1"> ·          Two direct Forms

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1">First, commercial directly penetrates the news corrupting its integrity. This process has been well chronicled.- (McChesney) pg. 12.  To some extent it entails  savvy corporate marketers, who produce slick  video features to be played on TV newscasts as  news stories, but also include a plug for the  ﬁrm’s product (White, 2001, pp. B1, B6) pg 12.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1">   It also  includes when the traditional “news hole”  increasingly permits commercial messages,  such as selling obituaries, running advertisements on the front page, or putting commercial  overlays over editorial content, be it in print or  broadcast (Barringer, 2002a, p. C7; Orwall, 2001,  p. B8; Wall Street Journal, 2000, p. B4;  www.accessatlanta.com, 2001). pg. 12

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1">Second another problem is of what professionalism was supposed to eliminate. Journalists are using their privileges to report favorably on their owner's commercial ventures or investments.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1">

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1">CBS, Katie Couric. Tina Brown Interview. 29 Sep.2009

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1">

Group 3 -- Grant Kunkel
<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:0.75in;text-indent:-0.5in;">I. Indirect Corporate Pressure (McChesney, Journalism Studies, 2003, pp. 311 – 318)

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;">According to McChesney, “the corporate/commercial pressure on news often takes place indirectly, and is therefore less likely to be recognized as such by journalists or the public” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 311). The reason for this is due to news companies’ hesitancy to spend money in order for journalists to probe and research stories pertaining to powerful entities in the United States and in foreign countries. Another hesitancy is due to the fear of frustrating powerful individuals and groups and getting “in over their heads.” As a result of this, news companies will instead focus their attentions on controversial stories that appear to be newsworthy, but actually do not pertain to anything of significance. For example, please refer to this link: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/paul-bremmer/2013/07/17/abc-s-dan-abrams-zimmerman-coverage-don-t-blame-media-we-evolved. This article discusses ABC’s Dan Abrams on the media’s coverage of George Zimmerman’s trial.

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;text-indent:-0.25in;">A. Hard News vs. Fluff (McChesney, 2003, pp. 312 – 313)

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;text-indent:-0.25in;">1. Celebrities/Politicians

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;">An observation most often seen in the news is the media’s overly-consistent coverage of celebrities’ and politicians’ private lives. In reference to the media’s coverage of celebrities, most Americans have most likely heard of celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. http://www.philly2philly.com/politics_community/politics_community_articles/2010/2/1/43035/americas_obsession_brad_pitt_and_angel

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;">Even politicians’ personal lives are highlights in the news, especially when there is a scandal involved, such as David Petraeus’ extramarital affair. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/09/15054517-cia-director-david-petraeus-resigns-cites-extramarital-affair?lite. According to McChesney, “the justiﬁcation for this caliber of journalism is that these stories are popular and therefore proﬁtable, and commercial news needs to “give the people what they want,” but to a certain extent, leaving aside the question of whether journalism should be determined by marketing polls, this is circular logic” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 312). The media can influence public opinion and sway it largely based on the kinds of “news” that are covered, published, and aired.

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;text-indent:-0.25in;">2. Violence

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;">Violence is a very broad subject, as it is exceedingly widespread on a global scale. However, the media is very successful at drawing the audiences’ attention onto specific, yet fundamentally insignificant, stories, such as the previously mentioned George Zimmerman trial. In the following statement, McChesney is referencing the 2002 sniper shootings in Washington D.C., but this statement could also refer to the media coverage of the George Zimmerman trial: “It generated high ratings and took no great skill or expense to cover. It received round-the-clock coverage, yet the news media had little to report, so much of the “news” was idle speculation, bland repetition, or hashing over rumors” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 312).

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;text-indent:-0.25in;">3. Lucrative Markets

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;">The media’s critical selection of coverage also is due to the amount of profit that is generated from the covered “news.” According to McChesney, “given the constant pressure for proﬁt, this concern with generating news content that will attract the most lucrative target audience has grown to an obsession” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 312). Since the middle and upper class have the greater amounts of money, media companies will market to them more so than the lower and working classes http://www.greenbook.org/marketing-research.cfm/identifying-the-most-profitable-targets. This link describes how media companies identify what constitutes the most profitable or lucrative markets.

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;text-indent:-0.25in;">4. Writing of the Poor/Working Class

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;">Due to the media’s lack of coverage of the lower and working classes (referring to the United States), most people do not realize the extent of poverty in America. McChesney highlights this fact by giving the results of a 2003 survey conducted by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development “showed that most Americans had no idea that nearly 33 million of their compatriots lived in fairly dire poverty” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 312). The media’s motive for this lack of coverage accounts for the lack of profit that can be attained from these two classes. http://billmoyers.com/2012/10/11/how-big-media-ignores-the-poor/

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;text-indent:-0.25in;">B. Elevation of Business to Center Stage (McChesney, 2003, pg. 313)

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;">There are two main explanations for why business journalism rose to such popularity within the media market. It was not simply due to the very large factor of the accumulation of wealth, but this was factored into the following: First, the capitalistic American economy influenced how financial gain was accomplished via the free market system; secondly, “reliance upon business sources and marginalizing critical sources, use of corporate PR as the basis for news, and fear of antagonizing corporate advertisers” also accounted for why business impacts journalism and the media (McChesney, 2003, pg. 313). http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3716-negative-publicity-influences-businesses.html

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;text-indent:-0.25in;">C. Dark Times and the Crisis of 2001 – 2002 (McChesney, 2003, pp. 313 – 315)

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;">The corporate scandals that took place in 2001 through 2002 brought clarification for the primary complications that plagued modern journalism. Journalists were given poor budgets to work with. Official and political sources were allowed too much power and authority in matters concerning journalism. Journalists were at fault for lacking factual, researched information to provide a backing for their stories. Journalists’ employers were additionally in the wrong for not keeping journalists accountable in regards to the investigated truthfulness and completeness of their work. Additional complications arose from an “enhanced attention to the editorial concerns of advertisers, emphasis on the trivial, the gloriﬁcation of business, and the exile of the poor and working class” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 313).

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;text-indent:-0.25in;">1. Enron

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;">This crisis began in 2001 when Enron filed for bankruptcy. Enron was actually a successful company and, from 1995 to 2000, was accredited as Fortune magazine’s “America’s Most Innovative Company.” However, “Enron was described by Charles Lewis, the journalist responsible for much of the investigation into its activities, as “a company inordinately dependent on government favors”” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 314). The reason why this news story drew a national audience was because of Enron’s involvement with the U.S. government and their financial contributions to political parties and their campaigns. They accomplished this through illegal means of deceiving people out of their money. http://www.forbes.com/2006/01/30/enron-media-scandal-cx_pm_0130enronmedia.html.

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;text-indent:-0.25in;">2. WorldCom

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;">In 2002, it was WorldCom’s turn to collapse. http://www.kalevleetaru.com/Publish/Open_Source_Intelligence_FBIS_WorldCom.pdf. The primary cause for the financial downfall of WorldCom was attributed to fraud, mainly due to falsified expenses. Prior to bankruptcy, WorldCom was the second-largest long-distance telephone company – AT&T was the leading telephone company relating to long-distance services. Post-bankruptcy WorldCom changed its name to MCI, Inc. and was bought out by Verizon. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/723527/000093176303001862/dex991.htm.

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;text-indent:-0.25in;">3. Global Crossing

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;">Global Crossing had similar circumstances relating to WorldCom, except that Global Crossing was concentrated on the computer market and online businesses. According to the following link, Global Crossing surpassed Enron relating to the amount filed for bankruptcy and was also a contributor to certain political parties and campaigns. http://www.conservativetruth.org/archives/tombarrett/03-10-02.shtml

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1in;"> <p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;text-indent:-0.25in;">D. Media Failure (McChesney, 2003, pg. 315)

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;">In reference to the Enron scandal, McChesney stated that “with no ofﬁcial sources pushing this as a political scandal, journalists easily converted it into a business story” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 315). Linking corporate fraud with political scandals is a difficult thing to accomplish regarding journalism, which is why the story became less important. This is an application of how money plays a role in what kinds of stories the media covers and which ones it overlooks and underreports. http://www.progressiveliving.org/mass_media_and_politics.htm

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0.75in;text-indent:-0.25in;">E. Media Firms Involvement

<p align="left" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:0.75in;">According to McChesney, “the largest media ﬁrms are members in good standing in the corporate community and closely linked through business relations, shared investors, interlocking directors, and shared political values with each other” (McChesney, 2003, pg. 315). Media companies are just as guilty of becoming corrupt and being influenced by “the highest bidder” as corporate businesses are. This kind of a dilemma presents a major issue for media corporations that produce the news. Media companies can choose to provide truthful and accurate journalism (“hard news”), which would definitely impact the social elite and their businesses; however, this would also impact them as a corporation and could potentially be a very costly venture. Another option for media companies and journalists is to support lobbyists and the social elite and modify the news to be more entertaining and commercially appeal to the 18 to 34 year age group (McChensey, 2003, pg. 317). Unfortunately, the latter is most often the case concerning how news content and journalism are influenced by a variety of factors that specifically revolve around money.

Group 4
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1"> Ø   Liberal Bias

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1"> §   Conservative Critique: Four Propositions

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1"> ·          Owners/Advertisers are irrelevant

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1"> ·          Journalists are liberals

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1"> ·          Journalists use power to advance liberal politics

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1"> ·          Objective journalism would depict the world as conservatives see it

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level2lfo1"> Ø   Move of Journalism to the Right

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level3lfo1"> §   Three Factors

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1"> ·          Right wing gained power/Democrats have become more pro business

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space: auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1"> ·          Basis for conservative critique has diminished

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:1.0in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level4lfo1"> ·          Conservatives move comfortably through corporate media